The Forrest City times., 1887-10-15

the order. 1t tTI Ette r " Was lArthWt- gatcd by the board l prepared decis- ion regarding it and intended to lay It before the board. I did not present the decision to the board, and kept it until now. present it for the consideration of the General Assembly,"
 "I now desire to make some recom- mendations to tue General Assembly. and I do most respectfully ask that more consideration be given to them than has been given to others that l made 10 past general sessions. be- lleve the day has come for Knights Of Labor to ask at the hands of Congress the passage oT law creating Depart ment of Labor at the seat Of the Ma G5ral Government. We have to-day a Department Of War; we do not need 1t at all in comparison to Department ol Labor. The prosperity of a whole country rests on the broad shoulders oi labor, and there is nothing now so prominently before the nation and the world as the question of labor. Nearly every action taken now by the Execu- tive or his Cabinet deals in one way or another with the question of labor; It's ramitications extend everywhere; its power Is felt everywhere, and it's use fulness is now recognized everywhere.
 II believe the Government of the United states should operate its own lines of telegraph. believe that it IS absolutely necessary for the welfare and prosperity of the country that the Gov crnment establish telegraph system to be used in the interest of the people. recommend that steps be taken to have 4E agfn fn a s- tablish governmental telegraph, to be run in connection with postal service. l believe that we should go before the next Congress asking for the passage O but one or two measures. They should
 be important ones, and the full strength of the organization should be behind those who make the demand. lbel!eYe, however, that nothing can be more im' portant than the passage of laws creat' ing a Government telegraph and na' tiOnal department oi labor.
 "ro deal knowingly and intelligently with the questions in our declaration of principles We should have a journa published under the control of the ordei which would reach every member. Il should have a department especially devoted to the discussion of those very questions. It must make radica change in the methods Of educating oul memters It Is not enough that they come to and go from meeting once {; week. They should have something tt read as the result of their visit to tho assembly. The work of education O. old and young is duty which we should not attempt to put to one side. In the Journal of September 10 1 pub. lished an outline sketch Of plan fol the regulation Of State, Territoriat mixed and trade assemblies. l will dc no more at this time than to draw tho attention Of the General Assembly tC the matter, and ask either that that ol better plan be adopted for the Tegula. tion of the order.
 "One thing that draws our memberi away from Us is the facilities afforded to secure assistance of pecuniary nature in other organizations, some o, whom are not in sympathy with our order; and if our members could but re. eeive the relief in the order which is guaranteed to them outside of it, we would have them with Us all the time, i recommend the adoption of a univer- sal benefit plan.
 "'r he question of my being a member of the socialist organization has been made the sub eet of so much comment of ate that believe it but fair to this General Assembly to make known my connection With socialism, or rather with the men who in former years were at the head or the Socialistic Labor party. In 1880, Philip Van Patten, the National Secretary of the Soci allstic Labor party, was a member Of the gen eral Executive Board of the Knights oi Labor. l became very intimate with him, and we frequently discussed the various measures of reform which all men in the movement regarded as oi importance. He sent me red card ol membership some time about the month of August. lSS9 The card was paid up by him for three months. 1 re- garded it as complimentary act or the part of Brother Van Patten. l saw however. that the declaration Of prin- ciples of the knights of Labor con- tained all of socialism that l cared to advocate, and never took any action on the card, except to keep It as q memento of the days when we were associated as officers of the association never cast vote for the candidate o tHht IdIlN W A1 utNtI Il lhtuiytA Ol of It's sess ons, and had no connection with it excort in the manner related , above. The use of firearms or dyna- mite is not advocated by socialists: the conliscatiuu of property or the q strl- button of wealth, or. in fact, the bc slowing of wealth or means of those who have not worked and earned it, i. not socialism 1t is robbery, it is rapine and no sane man can advocate such q doctrine. II believing in the declara. tion of principles of this order makes nc a socialist then l have no denials tC make, but that I am member of any other society wherein questions of labor or reform are discussed I deny
 ''l cannot speak too highly of the energy and ability displayed by the General Investigator. From the places she has investigated I hear the most 1attering reports Of her management and the disclosures that have been made to her are Of such nature as tC strengthen the lelef that the office should be made permanent and the sphere Of usefulness Of the department increased."